


Eyes on Me

by MoonlightMav



Series: Roar with Me [2]
Category: Twisted-Wonderland (Video Game)
Genre: Event: Fairy Gala (Twisted-Wonderland), Fluff, M/M, Modeling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-17 15:20:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29843463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonlightMav/pseuds/MoonlightMav
Summary: (summary by @patchyegg87 on Tumblr)The Fairy Gala was now over and done with, and the infiltration team has never been more than ready to kick back and relax. Leona had been planning on sleeping the next few days away, but after offering Ruggie anything to thank him for his help, he realized that he might have to perform one more runway gig …
Relationships: Ruggie Bucchi/Leona Kingscholar
Series: Roar with Me [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2193849
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	Eyes on Me

**Author's Note:**

> This series was a collab with @patchyegg87 on Tumblr, I wrote part 1 and she wrote this sequel. She allowed me to post it here too. Here's her author's note:
> 
> "What To Expect: Leona Kingscholar x Ruggie Bucchi, Established Relationship, Gay, Fairy Gala Spoilers, Swear Words, Suggestive Content
> 
> Word Count: 4, 148
> 
> Behold. My first public fanfiction. I always thought that it would be about JamiKali (Jamil x Kalim) but life’s full of surprises. This is a collab with @unpredictable-probabilities, who’s made Part 1, and is an amazing writer all on her own, so check her out when you can! Thank you very much for tolerating and even allowing yourself to get swallowed by my madness for TWST, friend."

They were in the Headmaster's Office, and Yuu and Vil took it upon themselves to report about the mission's success and the return of the magic stone. Crowley thanked them all for their contributions, but other than that, he took the stone to hide it away in a better undisclosed location and then dismissed them from their duties. 

Ruggie wasn't the only one a _little_ pissed about not getting a reward, but he supposed that what mattered now was that it was over. 

"Finally, we can get out of these things . . ." Leona complained along the school's interior hallway, trying to shrug the capes and the sashes off already. 

Ruggie caught them before they hit the ground. "A-pah-pah-puh . . ! We still gotta return these to Professor Crewel tomorrow, dude, so don't just dump these wherever!"

"I know I said this a lot already . . ." Kalim started to say, to which Yuu playfully held up four fingers behind his back. He was about to say something for the fifth time and it seemed like the quiet Prefect had been keeping track. "But today really has been a lot of fun, everyone! It's too bad that we don't get to do more of these in the future."

"Are you kidding? We busted our asses for this and Crowley didn't seem the _least_ bit grateful." Leona growled. "Wish his room stays frozen forever."

"Aw, I'm sure our other friends would wanna thank us!" Kalim responded, ever the optimist. "And even if they don't, I think saving the school alone was already super cool on its own! Plus, I got to learn a lot of things, too! Right, Jamil?"

Jamil looked just as tired as all of them, but his scowl was noticeably not as bad as one would've expected. "Yes, as exhausting as it all was, we all did pretty good, so if no one plans to thank us for it, then we might as well just reward ourselves. The Headmaster was at least kind enough to give us a day off for tomorrow, so that means we can use that to our full advantage."

That was when Kalim's face suddenly lit up in an epiphany. "Oh! Well, what better way to reward ourselves with, then, than throwing a grand feas--"

Jamil quickly clamped a hand over the other's mouth, slowly dragging him away. "I'm going to stop you right there before you say something stupid, okay? We'll see you around, everyone. Take care now."

"Bye!" Grim called out, glancing over towards Leona and Ruggie's direction. "What do _you_ guys plan to do tomorrow?"

Without wasting a beat of a second, Leona responded with a "Sleep, duh."

Ruggie shrugged. "I'mma treat myself with all the donuts I can get from the cafeteria and the Mystery Shop! Then I'll go and wash out the costumes before I hand them back to Professor Crewel. Hm . . . I might try to go and do something for someone before any of that, though-- so I can get the money to pay for all of those donuts, heheh."

From the corner of his eye, he could see Leona's eyebrow furrow in amusement.

"What about you, Grim? Yuu?"

"We didn't do as much as you guys, so we're not as tired." The monster admitted, getting picked up by his quiet friend. "But you could say we plan to take it easy, too."

Meanwhile, Yuu just shrugged, giving only a knowing smile. They then proceeded to bow, patting Ruggie in the shoulder afterwards to say, "You did good. Thank you for taking the lead in swapping the tiara."

They glanced up at Leona next, and, after a moment's stare, they nodded. "You did good, too, Leona. Thank you for everything."

The lion-man merely rolled his eyes, but there was no denying his soft smirk. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. I already know I did great. You're welcome, herbivore."

The 1st-year duo turned tail and left them after that, Grim looking back at one point to wave goodbye. 

"Hey, not to caress your already-inflated ego, but . . ." Ruggie lightly punched Leona by the arm. "Thanks for the assist back there. We would've been screwed if you hadn't come over."

"This already-inflated ego would've appreciated it more if you said that in front of everybody else . . ." Leona playfully huffed, crossing his arms as the both of them started walking back to Savanaclaw. "But no, you had to go and wait 'till we're all alone like a dork."

"Oh yeah, as if you wouldn't, asshole. At least I'm thanking you. I haven't even gotten an ounce of gratitude for getting dragged into this mess and pulling that tiara switch off to begin with."

Out of nowhere, he suddenly felt Leona draping an arm over his waist to pull him closer, chuckling. "Why should I say that when I can do something else to thank you instead?"

The corner of Ruggie's lips twitched upwards in excitement. "Oh yeah? You gonna buy me those donuts?"

"Mmm . . . Pretty sure I heard you say you'll 'do something for someone' first, so . . . that means that you haven't done it yet. Nice try, Bucchi. Think of something else, and we can talk about your donuts later."

Ruggie pouted. He really was hoping to get those treats sooner if possible, but that was fine. He already had another personal favorite treat standing right next to him. 

They were beginning to hit the sweltering floors of the Hall of Mirrors when Ruggie glanced down at the fabric in his arms and had an idea. 

"I got it." He coyly leaned close to the other and batted his eyes up at him. "Hey, Leona . . . Do you mean it when you said you'd do _anything_?"

"That depends, because I don't think I'm liking where this is going." Leona frowned, stopping right outside Savanaclaw's mirror. Both were much more used to the heat than the cold, and they weren't that eager to head into the winter wonderland that was currently their dorm.

"Aw come on, you're no fun. Then how did you plan on thanking me, huh?"

"I was hopin' for something that I can do easy enough without having to get off my bed . . . But you probably don't have any requests like that, do you?"

Ruggie stuck his tongue out. "Boooring. This wouldn't be too hard, I promise. You just did it this morning, after all."

"Huh? What're you talking about?"

"I was hiding behind the Fairy Queen's throne the whole time, so I wasn't able to watch you. Do you know how hard it was to hear all those fairies scream about my boyfriend while I myself couldn't? Had to use up all my restraint to stop myself from taking a lil' peek just to see what they were going on about." He held up the parts of Leona's discarded outfit, making a small grin. "So . . . Can you model? Just for me? Pleeeeeease . . ?"

-

"You better count yourself goddamn lucky for this, because if you had been anybody else . . ." Leona grumbled, his threat dying down because he could tell that Ruggie was feeling far from intimidated. 

The hyena man was sitting on Leona's mattress, legs crossed and face propped up atop his hands like a happy, curious child. "I know, I know. Now, come on! Strut your stuff! Pretend I'm one of the fairies!"

Leona just stood at the center of his bedroom, having donned his outfit completely again. He placed his hands on his hips with a scowl. "You've seen me practice walking plenty of times in the studio."

"Sure, but they were _practices_. You perform differently when it's the real deal! Besides, you and Vil kept your pose a secret, so when you finally did it, all I could rely on was the announcer just to picture it in my head! And the more I pictured it, the more I wanted to see it!"

"So you want me to recreate that same . . . 'intensity' from the fashion show?"

"Yeah."

"Not possible, dumbass. This ain't exactly the same glittery and flowery eyesore as the Gala. And as much as I was the main attraction, Kalim and Jamil were able to set the mood beforehand. Besides--"

Ruggie held his hand up to signal for some quiet and then mockingly shook his head. "Excuses, excuses, excuses. Since when did you get so concerned about all that? You'll look stupid doing this all by yourself, but like . . . yeah, that's the point! You know I'll still love it either way."

Leona pursed his lips, still feeling mighty awkward about this. Ruggie never expected him to be so shy out of nowhere, but he guessed that if he was in his shoes, he'd feel the same way. 

"Okay, tell you what." He helped himself off the bed and held his arms out. "I'll help you out! Let's look stupid together! I do a pose, and you do a pose in return. How's that sound?"

Leona suppressed a grin, snorting. "It sounds dumb. But hey, I want to see you flaunt your costume off, too, so that's fine by me, I guess."

Ruggie remembered how Leona complimented him in front of everyone in the studio. The others brushed it off, pegging it as a sign that Leona was in a good mood, but he was personally shocked speechless. They both never really show such affection out in public before; that was just something they both unconsciously agreed upon. However, suffice to say, he practically couldn't remember the walk to the Botanical Garden after that because he had completely spaced out.

Leona did a lot of flattering things today, actually . . . which was all completely uncalled for! The absolute nerve of this handsome bastard . . .

"Oy, you're almost as red as Riddle when he's upset." He heard his partner suddenly point out, snapping him back to reality. Leona raised an eyebrow and sneered. "Thinking about me, are you?"

"Oh, shut up." There must be a way to get back at him somehow, because he'd like to get _him_ flustered for once. 

Like an epiphany, then, he realized that he got shaken because Leona, of all people, had given him a nice and genuine compliment. If that's the case, then two can play at that game.

"I mean can you blame me?" He mumbled, feigning grumpiness. "It's not everyday your boyfriend becomes a knight in . . . floral, robelike armor. I kept thinking about how you've been acting all day and I was just completely caught off-guard! Like, when you told me that you wouldn't let anything bad happen and stuff . . ?"

He delicately interlaced his fingers together, glancing down at the floor while his ears drooped and his voice got quieter. "I'm not gonna lie-- you looked really cool back there. I really am very grateful for everything you did at the gala, you know."

There was silence, and Ruggie glanced up to see Leona staring at him. His eyes were wide, and his mouth was opening and closing like he wanted to say something, anything, as a comeback. After a moment, though, he instead just snapped his head to the side, tearing his eyes off of him so he could bring a hand to clasp against his jaw. "Th-That's . . . What the hell's gotten into you all of a sudden?"

Score! Ruggie broke out into a grin, albeit feeling a tad bashful himself, and quickly recomposed himself. "Heh heh heh! You know that we're both weak for all this cheesy shit! 'Coz of that, I got my revenge AND one could consider that as my pose, too, so that's two birds with one stone for the Ruggie-man!"

"Wh--" Leona's jaw dropped again before his eyes hardened into a glare. "Tch, bastard . . ."

"What? Are you mad? It's not like I was lying, bro, so whatchu gonna do about it?" 

The smirk on Ruggie's face began to falter as Leona stood tall and held out a hand towards him. 

His emerald irises felt like they were staring straight into his soul. "Hmph. Why don't you come closer and find out . . ?"

It was just like that moment when Leona had been distracting that fairy guard. If Ruggie hadn't been careful then, he would've been too captivated to have escaped. There was no magic involved in the lion's gesture, but his presence alone simply made him irresistible. 

He awkwardly shuffled, wondering if Leona was going to withdraw from that pose at any moment. He did not, though, and he realized he was waiting for Ruggie to make his move. The boy found himself gulping and then walking closer and closer, wondering what on Earth Leona was going to do. 

He had a few predictions, and plenty of them have got his heart racing a marathon. By the time he was standing right before him, he practically had his eyes closed, just bracing for any sort of touch or movement . . .

Then suddenly, Leona snorted and roughly began to tousle Ruggie's hair, causing the other to yelp in surprise. "Geez . . . You really do have it bad for me, you lil' runt. I didn't think that you'd actually take it seriously."

"Argh!" Ruggie wriggled himself out of his hold, beginning to get frustrated. "It's your fault for suddenly doing that outta nowhere! Is this some sort of secret ability that you've been keeping from everyone this whole time?"

"If it was, I'd start using it everyday." Leona smirked to himself. "It only seems to work better when I'm dressed like this, though. Maybe wearing it to school might not be so bad, after all."

"What? So you can have everyone do your bidding? That's . . ." Ruggie started to imagine the lessened workload. ". . . Very tempting, admittedly, but I thought you hated this costume. You're not wearing that and becoming everyone's eye-candy everyday!"

"True . . . More importantly, was that jealousy I heard just now?" 

"What? Jealous? What do you mean?" Ruggie found himself asking, noticing how quickly he asked that. Leona raised an eyebrow at this, clearly amused. 

"Hm. Nothing, then. I must've imagined it. I wouldn't really want to have people ogling at you all the time, either, especially when I won't be there to make them regret that." He reached out again, but this time he cupped a hand around Ruggie's face. Tenderly so, a thumb ran over his cheek, and the hyena man, calming down, leaned against his hold, enjoying the gesture. "This side of us we only get to show when we're by ourselves is something I cherish as our own. If people saw you acting cute like this, why, I'd suddenly have some pretty annoying competition."

"Pfft, you'd be able to kick their ass if that happened, and I wouldn't dream of choosing anyone over you, anyway." He gave Leona's palm a small kiss, before he stepped back. "Going back to what we were doing, though, you still haven't shown me your swishy cape move yet."

"Well, you haven't done _your_ turn first." Leona crossed his arms, musing for a moment before he asked, ". . . Would you be okay with a request?"

"It's probably gonna be something naughty, coming from you." Ruggie harrumphed, but there was no sign of irritation in his features. "But yeah sure, hit me with your best shot."

Leona rolled his eyes, moving on from the other's comment and then pointing at the end of the room. "Since I'm gonna be doing a full walk with a pose at the end, why don't you do it, too? We'll be even that way. As for your pose . . . just do whatever you feel like. There."

Ruggie registered shock over the lack of perversion on that prompt. These innocent and pure costumes really must be getting to his head . . . Leona only gave him a shrug before he gestured for him to get going. 

As he slowly complied, Ruggie began to wonder what he could pull off. He supposed he could just wave, but there was a possibility Leona would just be underwhelmed by it. He then figured that if he wanted the lion man to put some actual effort into his pose, he should do the same first. 

He reached the other end of the room and turned to face Leona, sitting by the edge of the bed and staring at him. Even from a distance, he could see the piercing green shimmer of the brunette's irises.

He wasn't going to judge him like Vil or Crewel would, but the gesture got Ruggie nervous, nonetheless. What to do, what to do . . . Should he do something bold? Should he be playful? He doesn't actually know the first thing about posing. He was sure Vil must have discussed it at one point-- But if he did, he hadn't been listening. 

He glanced down at his clothes. It was true that this outfit makes him come off a lot more innocent than he actually is. Should he play along with the vibe or go off for an unexpected take?

Oh, this was a lot more difficult than he initially thought . . .

"If you were on the runway right now, all the fairies are gonna wonder what's taking so long, yanno?" Leona teased, slumping forward to lean against his palm, which was propped up on his leg. "Is that what the people call 'pre-show jitters'?"

"You make it sound like you don't get them."

"Why would I? That's why practice exists to begin with."

Ruggie huffed, building up the nerve to just wing it. "Well, I dunno if you were paying attention but I never attended any of Vil's lessons, so all of this is pretty new territory."

"Psh. Posing doesn't take a lot of brain power." The lion-man reasoned. "Just do what Kalim does and go with your gut."

"I know, I know, I'm doing it." Ruggie said, beginning to make his way down to the mattress. God, how can this man be so irritating and alluring at the same time? If he's going to be making a pose from the spur of the moment, then . . .

He stood right before Leona, stoic and blank before he made a sudden twirl and a heart pose with his hands, shouting out a "You're a giant pain in the ass" as he cheerily winked. Leona began to laugh once the initial surprise washed over, and Ruggie joined in soon after. 

The hyena leaned forward, then, and touched their foreheads together as he wrapped his arms around the other's neck. "Still love you, though!"

"Heh. I know. Otherwise I'd start questioning your tastes if you didn't." Leona responded, and as a result, all manners of affection ceased and Ruggie flicked him by the face. This got another chuckle out of him, and he placed the hyena at his spot in the mattress to take his turn at the "runway". 

He stood at the room's end, and he recalled how he planned to be out of these clothes as soon as everything was done about an hour ago. Now here he was, modelling once more. Oh, how strange fate can be sometimes.

The whole atmosphere from the Fairy Gala was no longer there to support him, and Ruggie knew him too well to utilize that "mysterious" vibe, but that didn't stop Leona. Compared to the other, he was confident, and he walked like he was out on a casual stroll. 

"Hey, hey, hey! Vil would get mad at you for swaying around like that!" Ruggie called out.

"You got a problem with how I'm doing it now?"

". . . Nah, keep going."

"That's what I thought."

Despite that statement, Leona did try to be a little more mindful on his next few steps. He wasn't sure if Ruggie would notice, but the pose did rely on nailing the walk of melancholy first. 

As he came closer, both men's eyes were trained upon one another, drinking in the view. For Leona, seeing Ruggie looking up at him from the bed was as if he was staring down upon a dainty white flower, innocent and sweet and pretty. The only thing that stood out from the image was the hungry look in his eyes, mischievously glinting at the man towering over him. 

Ruggie kept talking about how much he couldn't tear his eyes off of him, but he wonders if he was aware that that's how Leona felt, too. That morning, the compliment he gave him had been a complete slip of the tongue, but thankfully, people either didn't notice it or didn't look too deep into it to care. 

It was a real shame that the hyena had not been very present at the gala. He would've liked to see him have the time of his life like Kalim and Jamil did, but he also supposed that it was a good thing in the end. If he had been on the runway, too, he might've never been able to focus. 

As practical and useful Ruggie was for the mission, he was also a good reason as to why Leona had been motivated to follow through with everything. With him around, memories of how he let him down during his Overblot stood present in his mind, and it prompted him to try and make up for it. Even as they were dating, Leona still noticed how much Ruggie had been trusting him less and less with important matters. And though the hyena sort of brushed much of what had happened off, there was no denying that it impacted the way he looked at him since then, and the guilt had slowly been gnawing out Leona's soul. For Ruggie, it wasn't the Prefect's King's Roar that had hurt him the most on that day.

It was why this gala was his chance to rebuild that trust again, to somehow ask Ruggie to give him another shot. He wasn't sure that he could do a great job all the time, but he certainly wants to try putting in the effort when it counts from now on. He wants to try in general. 

_"Shut up . . . All you've been doing is whine about the possibility of everything going wrong. I already told you, didn't I? I won't let that happen."_

In that moment, despite the worry and frustration on Ruggie's features, something registered within him, and Leona knew that he had understood. He had replied with a scoff-like response then, but for Leona it was like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Ruggie had accepted it and had risked putting his faith in him once more. 

He did everything he could in the gala to make sure he wouldn't let him and everybody else down from that point forward. Now that it was over, seeing Ruggie smile up at him blissfully was more than enough to let him know that all his trouble had been worth it.

"Now then, little fairy . . ." Leona sneered, taking a step outwards before turning around, elegantly dragging his cape to billow after him. "Burn this performance into your memories."

He heard Ruggie make a small noise of wonder before he glanced over to see him clap.

"I had a feeling it would be similar to how you pulled your blankets over your head! But it looks a lot cooler now, shishishi!" Ruggie snickered. "Gotta remember to thank Vil for that someday."

Leona quickly frowned. "What? Why thank Vil when I'm the one who pulled it off?"

" _He_ was the one who came up with it while you were being a brat. He deserves _some_ of the credit, shouldn't he?" The hyena tilted his head, chuckling at the pout beginning to form on the taller man's face. "Okay, fine, fine, I admit . . . What you did wasn't too bad, either."

"Ugh, now you _sound_ like him, too. Well, now I don't feel like doing it."

"Hm? Doing what?"

Leona looked away, keeping his back to him and keeping quiet. There was no way, Ruggie thought, there was no way he's actually going to sulk about Vil of all people, was there?

He sighed, hopping off the bed. "Hey--"

And then Leona wheeled around and pounced, tackling Ruggie back down to the sheets as his cape covered over the both of them. The hyena yelped as he got pinned down, but then he started giggling as playful kisses peppered themselves upon his face and neck. 

"Hahahah! Whoa, h-hey, slow down for a minute! Careful on the clothes, big guy, they're expensive!" 

"Oh?" Leona paused, going still before retracting away to loom over him. "Is this your not-so-subtle way of telling me you wanna take them off, then . . ?"

". . . Mmmaybe." Ruggie's tongue teasingly poked out of his grin while his legs wrapped themselves around Leona's waist, securing him close. ". . . Mind giving me a good show while you do so?"

"Heh, fine . . . You better keep your eyes on me the whole time, though, got it?" And his rough hand came up to undo a section of his robes, revealing his bare chest underneath.

"Oh, that ain't gonna be a problem, believe me . . ."


End file.
